Evaluation of muscle tone and balance in young collegiate athletes with ankle instability

The aim of this study is to evaluate muscle tone and balance in young collegiate athletes with ankle instability. 19 (12F, 7M) volunteer athletes who enrolled as team member at Yeditepe University's Directorate of Culture and Sports between 2022-2023 were included in the study. 12 volunteer were with a CAI record (8F, 4; 21.16 ± 2.44 years) and 7 volunteer athletes were healthy (3F, 4M; 21.57 ± 2.76years). All participants will be placed in the Chronic Ankle Instability Group (CAI) after completing an assessment form that proposes about their demographic and clinical characteristics, if their Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) score is 24 or less, and if they receive a Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM) questionnaire score of 90% for Daily subscale and 80% for Sports subscale. Healthy participants constituted the control group (CG). After participants were divided into groups, MyotonPRO® was used for myotonometry for assessing muscle biomechanical properties. For static and dynamic balance tests, the ProKin (TecnoBody, Dalmine, Italy) device was utilized. Myotonometry measurements targeted the superficial muscles around the ankle peroneus longus, tibialis anterior, lateral and medial gastrocnemius (PL, TA, LG and MG). Balance measurements were conducted with eyes open and closed, including both static and dynamic balance while standing on one leg. The data from the two groups were compared at the study's conclusion, and any differences were examined. Using the SPSS program, the data were statistically analyzed. Due to the limited sample size, significant differences between the biomechanical properties of muscles and balance parameters could not be observed. However, correlations were found between muscle tone and balance values. Key Words: ankle, joint instability, chronic ankle instability, muscle tone, balance